TRANMERE ROVERS lost valuable ground in the race for the play-offs last night when they were held to a scrappy draw at Oakwell.

TRANMERE ROVERS lost valuable ground in the race for the play-offs last night when they were held to a scrappy draw at Oakwell.

Shane Nicholson's equaliser from a twice-taken penalty on 49 minutes was enough to extend Tranmere's unbeaten sequence to seven games.

But the point wasn't enough to keep Tranmere up to speed with many of their promotion rivals who posted victory on the night.

Tranmere shaded the contest on possession and pressure without ever performing with authority.

It was a case of after the Lord Mayor's show following their high-quality encounters with the second division's top three - Wigan, Crewe and Cardiff - over the past fortnight.

Considering Tranmere and Barnsley are among the division's leading teams on current form over the last seven games, the quality of the football was of a disappointing standard.

Even so, there was no shortage of effort and commitment from Ray Mathias's side and they were given every vocal encouragement by the travelling fans.

The visitors made the worst possible of starts, conceding a goal inside eight minutes.

Manager Mathias, unhappy with some aspects of Tranmere's defending in the 3-3 draw with Cardiff last Friday, was less than pleased to see his rear-guard opened up so early in the contest.

A through pass from Kevin Donovan sent Bruce Dyer bursting into the penalty area from the right to force a path between the challenges of Gareth Roberts and Ian Sharps before firing a right-foot shot low past goalkeeper John Achterberg from a dozen yards.

Tranmere's response was to take the game to the home side for much of the half. Scoring opportunities were difficult to come by, however, as the untidy play was riddled with mis-placed passes and unforced errors from both teams.

Gary Jones put Tranmere's first serious effort on target in the 31st minute, climbing above his marker in the penalty area to meet a Roberts cross from the left with a header Barnsley goalkeeper Matt Ghent snatched above his head.

Two minutes later Jones' midfield partner Tyrone Loran also had a fleeting opportunity when Nicholson's deep free-kick from the right beat the pack of players in the six-yard box to reach him at the far post.

The Dutchman tried to poke the ball home on the first bounce but Ghent reacted quickly enough to paw it away from danger.

Just before the interval, striker Simon Haworth made better of an awkwardly bouncing ball than Barnsley centre-back Antony Kay to put in a left-foot shot but Neil Austin moved across to block the effort.

Tranmere were eventually level four minutes after the restart thanks to a sequence of events that had the home fans screaming in anger at referee P S Danson.

The Leicestershire official spotted Barnsley centre-back Kay pulling back Loran when the Tranmere midfielder tried to get on the end of a long free-kick from Graham Allen and immediately pointed to the spot.

The protests of the Barnsley players were waved away before Nicholson drove his spot-kick to Ghent's left and the goalkeeper made an athletic leap to push the ball out. But the cheers of the home crowd died in their throats as a flagging linesman signalled the goalkeeper had moved too early and Mr Danson ordered the kick to be retaken.

This time Nicholson kept his shot lower and the ball glanced off Ghent's body on its way into the back of the net.

Tranmere's travelling fans, who urged their team on with noisy passion throughout, roared in delight. The equaliser had the effect of cranking up the atmosphere in the scarcely populated stadium and the tempo of the game also improved - for a period.

Barnsley's hopes were raised highest when Mike Sheron glanced a neat chip from striking partner Dyer just over the bar on 64 minutes and again when Kay deflected a long free-kick from Donovan just wide of Achterberg's right-hand post four minutes from time.

But by then the game had lapsed back into the messy pattern of the first half as each side laboured to find the creative spark to carve out a clear opening.

Tranmere, for all their persistence in going forward, didn't ask the relatively inexperienced Ghent too many difficult questions.